Living Positively

Today started off bright and early at 7:00am, for some, to make a hearty breakfast to start the day off right! After breakfast we were privy to our third Swahili lesson. In today’s lesson we learnt relationship language. For instance, nawapenda familia yangu (I love my family), this is from all of us here in Tanzania!

We were once again split into our two fabulous groups. The one group took off to a local government hospital. At the hospital we observed two pediatric appointments. We saw our first case of pneumonia, which according to statistics is within the top 5 childhood illnesses in Tanzania due to the inability to cope with the  cold temperatures in combination with substandard living conditions. I understand if some of you (specifically the Canadians) are surprised by the cold temperatures part, so were we. The mortality rate for children under five due to pneumonia accounts for 16% of deaths. Recently, in 2012, Tanzania introduced the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) as a routine immunization for children under the age of five. They receive their PCV at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and the final dose at 14 weeks; the goal is to decrease the incidence and mortality of pneumonia cases in children under five. The vaccine is given alongside tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, influenza B, and measles.

The remainder of our time at the clinic was spent observing and assisting with antenatal (pregnant women) assessments. These assessments include measuring the woman’s weight, blood pressure, fundal height (height of baby bump), and listening to the fetal heart rate. Note, the fetal heart rate is heard through a wooden tool over the fetus’ back. We we were quickly informed that these odd looking tools only recently disappeared from Canadian obstetric wards. I guess we’re a bunch of young pups.  

The other girls attended a support group meeting for HIV positive people ran by a local organization. Here, they were able to observe HIV positive people supporting other HIV positive people. The goal of the organization is to offer a safe nonjudgmental environment for affected individuals to congregate. At this particular location the organization also offers HIV testing, counseling, as well as prevention and general HIV education. The girls were astonished as member’s relayed personal stories of what it’s like to live as an HIV positive person.

The realities here in Tanzania are harsh but real. It takes a great deal of grit to realize that you, as an individual, cannot help or fix everyone or anything, but the little bit you do contribute will add up to develop a bigger picture; a picture of health, hope, and happiness. 

- Samantha